Genesis
by AkitaFallow
Summary: Sometimes he thinks about how easy it is to change things. Other times he wonders if the future's really changing at all.  /Self-challenge fic, drabble series/
1. I to XX

1. Underlay  
>Sometimes he wonders if Fate has some kind of subliminal message for him that he's never really understood. Other times he wonders if he really wants to know even if there is.<p>

2. Material  
>He's always wondered if he's the right person for this job. The whole saving-the-world aspect of it has never really appealed to him. Maybe he's just missing some vital part that will make it all worth it.<p>

3. Incident  
>It wasn't really even his choice to be the hero. Accidents happen all the time, and it was one of those things that no one really expected, and yet blamed everyone else for. Sometimes, he wonders who he should be blaming.<p>

4. Curse  
>It isn't a spell he knows; he's looked. There are plenty of books for him to peruse, and he hasn't found that particular incantation yet. Maybe it's not really a spell. Maybe someone just said whatever they felt like and hoped something interesting would come of it.<p>

5. Division  
>But, in the end, whatever was used is really irrelevant. He's read enough theories to know that the only thing separating him from what he wants is time. So he may as well make the best of it.<p>

6. Nail  
>He still has the scars. The magic didn't like him at the time; he didn't <em>belong<em>. He hadn't realized exactly how sharp human fingernails could be until he'd tried to claw out the angry magic coursing under his skin.

7. Fake  
>They'd asked him who he was. Where he'd come from. He still wishes he'd chosen a better pseudonym; maybe then the chaotic magic wouldn't have chosen to use it as an outlet to officially name him someone he really isn't. John Smith never struck him as a particularly likeable title.<p>

8. Sailing  
>He'd drifted for awhile once they'd let him go. He knows now what he didn't know then; a destination is irrelevant, because there's no place here he's ever found comfortable harbour in.<p>

9. Aging  
>It was in that time that he learned something important. No one really trusts you for long if you're perpetually fifteen.<p>

10. Wide  
>He's been moving around for awhile now. It's amazing how large the world really is when you can't stay somewhere for more than a year or two.<p>

11. Algebra  
>It doesn't take a great skill in maths to know that he hasn't grown an inch in over fifty years.<p>

12. Soul  
>He runs into a couple of Dementors not long after he leaves Britain for the first time. He thinks his luck—what little there is of it—has finally run out, until he realizes they hardly even notice him. Later he wonders if that means he no longer has a soul.<p>

13. Inclination  
>Despite the fact that there's about as little reason to return there as to go anywhere else in the world, he always finds himself back in the UK every few years. Maybe he's expecting something to finally become familiar.<p>

14. Illiterate  
>It's on his fifth return to the country that he runs into the boy for the first time. He's never seen so pitiful a sight as a beaten three-year-old begging for change on a corner. When John tries to give him a ten-dollar bill, the child glares and spits that even though he can't read, he's not stupid and knows what proper money is.<p>

15. Paste  
>The second time he sees the lad is when he's slogging through a raging English hailstorm and sees him huddled, shivering, in a doorway. He doesn't realize it's the same boy until he takes him back to his current flat and washes away the muck. Two years haven't glued him back together any better than a bill did.<p>

16. Couple  
>He wonders idly where the boy's parents are. Possibly dead. He won't know until the kid's healed enough to actually speak to him.<p>

17. Tidying  
>There's a lot to clean up. He thinks the boy's been beaten for years, especially with the rags he's wearing and the scars. He wonders if some of them ever came about like his own.<p>

18. Anything  
>The first time the boy tells him his name, he's sure he's misheard. It's impossible. Any other name would be fine. But there is no way that this waif sleeping on his couch for three days is Tom Riddle.<p>

19. Manage  
>He comes to terms with it eventually. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that it's a chance for him to change something, because he feels like he's been useless for awhile now.<p>

20. Moderate  
>The first thing John decides is that Tom is not returning to wherever he came from. The boy seems to show no love of it, anyway. The second thing he decides is that no one else knows what Tom might become—so he won't let them find out.<p>

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><p><strong>This is a sort of experimental self-challenge fic inspired by esama's "Death and the Boy". <strong> **I have used a random word generator for each prompt, and am building a story from there. It will make sense eventually, I swear. ****I also promise that this is _not_ what you probably think it is.**

**Let me know if this is worth continuing!**

**-Akita  
><strong>


	2. XXI to XL

21. Public  
>The American public seems to better accept a silent fifteen-year-old with an equally silent five-year-old boy hanging off of his hip. He wonders occasionally why that is.<p>

22. Confidence  
>He never knew a child so young could be so jaded. But eventually he finds out about the orphanage and how badly the boy was treated. In return, when he asks why John looks like a teenager but acts like a grown-up, he tells him about the accident.<p>

23. Right  
>The first time he catches Tom stealing, he loses his temper. It takes six hours to convince the boy he's not actually going to abandon him. It's the first time John truly realizes what he's actually trying to do.<p>

24. Twelve  
>When he ends up twelve dollars short on their next rent payment, he has the fleeting thought that maybe Tom has the right idea after all.<p>

25. Landscape  
>The view from their new hovel is less than ideal, but there is only so much a paperboy's wage can cover.<p>

26. Superiority  
>When the meek five-year-old becomes a timid six-year-old, John idly ponders how such a child grew up to be someone as grotesquely prideful as Lord Voldemort.<p>

27. Remainder  
>He saves whatever's left from his paycheque. Education doesn't come cheap these days.<p>

28. Bob  
>He's not quite sure how they stay afloat most of the time. Tom says it's luck. John thinks maybe it's more along the lines of magical.<p>

29. Tomorrow  
>He knows enough Muggle history to realize a war's coming, but can't remember where the safest place would be. After awhile, he decides that anywhere is okay.<p>

30. No  
>He's not sure how to respond when the Hogwarts letter comes. He's not even quite sure how it found them. In the end, he sends a politely worded refusal after Tom announces that he wants to be a scientist.<p>

31. Day  
>When Albus Dumbledore appears on their doorstep the next morning, he's slightly less polite. But the man is nothing if not persuasive.<p>

32. Chestnut  
>Later, when they finally follow the future headmaster to a nearby magical pub to Floo themselves to England, Tom questions if the fire's going to make them burst open like those nuts they roasted last Christmas.<p>

33. Stomach  
>He wishes he hadn't offered Dumbledore tea before coming. Floo travel no longer seems to agree with him.<p>

34. Intelligence  
>It takes the Transfiguration professor all of ten minutes to see through his Muggle persona. The man is frightfully intuitive, and John finds himself, for the first time in his life, afraid of Albus Dumbledore.<p>

35. Measurement  
>But there's something in him that Dumbledore seems to find strangely worthy, and he isn't questioned. The only thing that the professor insists is that John get himself a proper wand, as he's obviously been without one for quite some time.<p>

36. Play  
>Ollivanders' has remained unchanged—or, perhaps, will remain unchanged. When the old man's eyes meet his and he greets John by his false name, there is a sparkle there that says he knows, but isn't going to tell because it's more fun that way.<p>

37. Interpretation  
>He's not particularly surprised when they find out that Tom's inherited the Gaunt fortune. Dumbledore's eyes say that it was entirely unexpected. Tom's ecstatic—he's never been rich before.<p>

38. Airport  
>The Alley is busier than he's ever seen it, but perhaps he's simply out of practice. His boy seems to find the comings and goings incredibly amusing.<p>

39. Festival  
>He tries half-heartedly to change the boy's mind, but even he understands the urge to splurge. Tom will be the most colourfully dressed first year Hogwarts has ever seen.<p>

40. Vast  
>The feeling of Side-Along Apparation is even worse than the Floo. He feels like he left something vital in the empty space between here and there—if there's really anything to leave behind.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>I'm going to continue this, because it's strangely cathartic. And completely different from my usual style. <strong>

**I will say only this: John Smith is not an OC.**

**-Akita  
><strong>


	3. XLI to LX

41. Domain  
>When he steps across the Hogwarts wards for the first time in sixty years, his skin tingles. Magic doesn't really like him much right now. He's not supposed to be here yet.<p>

42. Colleague  
>He turns down Dippet's rather tentative offer of becoming the Defence professor. He can't even cast proper spells anymore.<p>

43. Hook  
>The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes when he suggests that John may like to stay at Hogwarts makes him wary. He can't help but feel that he's being pulled into the man's impromptu plan perfectly.<p>

44. Resident  
>He's never stayed at Hogwarts over the summer before. The halls feel eerie without anyone else in them—except for Tom, who's having a wonderful time finding all the hidden passages he can and getting himself stuck in trick stairs. It's probably the most fun the boy's ever had in his life.<p>

45. Bargain  
>He can't stay here indefinitely without a purpose, though, and Dumbledore knows it. Sometimes he wonders if it's the man's way with words or the possibility of having to leave Hogwarts so soon after coming back that makes him finally accept the position of Muggle Studies professor. (It does make him muse over exactly how many teachers the school is missing.)<p>

46. Guard  
>Or maybe it's fear of the possibly catastrophic future that an unattended Tom could create. Though he's not sure if the tightening in his chest at the thought of leaving is because he's scared <em>of<em> the boy... or scared _for _him.

47. Faithful  
>He meets the staff a week later. The looks on their faces say that he can't possibly be a professor, can't possibly be what he says he is. His age doesn't match—he's too young, too inexperienced. He won't be able to handle the job properly. It's only after he calmly stares down the blustering Potions professor that they start thinking he's devoted enough.<p>

48. Advert  
>It's an article in the most recent Daily Prophet that catches his eye a few days before term. He thought he was changing things for the better—until he is reminded that Voldemort is not the only Dark Lord the Wizarding world has ever had to deal with.<p>

49. Part  
>And then he's thinking about how much he really <em>is<em> changing things. Altering the future feels so terrifyingly simple that he wonders if anything will ever be the same again.

50. Tribe  
>Looking out over the veritable herd of goggling first years clustered in the middle of the Great Hall, he can't help but feel a bit of nostalgia. And perhaps a touch of anxiety as he thinks about how they're to be colour coded for the rest of their school lives—all told the best place for them even though they're only children.<p>

51. Spot  
>Tom seems to be the least nervous of the bunch, but John knows better. They're not a social pair; the boy's rarely had friends. He can only hope that Tom will find a niche to insert himself into.<p>

52. Arc  
>When "Smith, Tom" is sorted into Ravenclaw, John can't help but feel they've come full circle, and from here on everything will be different.<p>

53. Poet  
>He's always felt that wizards are a dreadfully uncultured lot, but he can't quite master his shock when a fourth year asks him who Shakespeare is as he hands out copies of <em>A Midsummer Night's Dream<em> to his first class.

54. Routine  
>The first time Tom crawls into bed with him in his private suite with tears in his eyes, John can't turn him away. From then on the boy rarely sleeps in his own dormitory, but no one seems to question it.<p>

55. Knowledge  
>When a sixth year challenges him to a duel in the middle of October, still disgruntled about his apparent youth, he gives the teenager detention, where he soundly pins him to the ground and has him recite the chronological development of the telephone. He knew learning martial arts twenty years ago would come in handy some day.<p>

56. Palace  
>Tom comments one evening that it feels like they're living in a fairy tale—with magic and impossible creatures and wands and all sorts of wonders. The only thing they're missing is a princess that needs saving. John can't help but wish his own princess were here.<p>

57. Moon  
>A first year Slytherin comments one day that Muggles are stupid and helpless and will never go far at all. John tells her that Muggles will one day go to the moon, which magic will probably never do. No one believes him.<p>

58. Breeze  
>He hasn't picked up a broom in decades, but can't say no to Tom when the boy begs him to go flying. The wind through his hair feels just as good as it used to, even if he's so rusty that even the eleven year old can out-fly him on an ancient Moontrimmer 5.<p>

59. Mortal  
>He knows the first time that Tom reads about Dark magic by the fearful glint in the boy's eyes whenever he looks at his surrogate father. When he finally works up the courage to ask, John isn't sure how to answer. Because he's not sure himself if he's immortal or not.<p>

60. Situating  
>He eventually figures out where he stands with his colleagues—not quite a companion, not quite a protégé, not quite anything except John Smith, enigmatic and generally quiet Muggle Studies professor who seems to know more about Muggles than anyone on staff, despite his age. He hopes they never find out the real truth.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Don't make any assumptions yet. ;)<strong>

**-Akita  
><strong>


	4. LXI to LXXX

61. Jumping  
>There's one night he finds himself sitting at the top of the Astronomy Tower, thinking about nothing and everything and all the things between here and there. An absent thought makes him wonder if he'd actually die from a fall that far. For some reason, he can't quite make himself feel disgusted at the implications.<p>

62. Manipulation  
>He tells Dippet that he's an orphan from the First World War and has seen his fair share of inhospitable orphanages, which is why he adopted Tom. He manages to convince the Headmaster that he's twenty through sheer stubbornness. It helps that the age spell the old man cast on him came up with an indecisive puff of black smoke. Though it does convince him that his no-soul theory might be correct after all.<p>

63. Straight  
>It only happens once, but it's enough. He tries to tell himself it's entirely natural for his feet to unconsciously lead him to the entrance of Gryffindor tower. But after the first time, he's always careful to continue past the portrait and ignore the little piece of himself that seems to have nestled in the tower behind him.<p>

64. Optimum  
>He knows it's the best option when the professors eventually begin to look at him strangely. So he takes his wand from the shelf behind his desk, dusts it off, ignores the lack of a magical tingle from it, and teaches himself Glamour charms.<p>

65. Pity  
>He can see the look in Dumbledore's eyes. It's something he hates, but knows he has to deal with now. He knows the older man can see it; the holes in his Glamour that no amount of practice will fix, because the magic simply doesn't agree with him. But no one else knows, and that's really all he cares about right now.<p>

66. Firing  
>The next person to challenge him to a duel is the dour Charms professor. John hadn't expected anyone else to notice his Glamours, but he supposes that if anyone else could, it would be her. He stares at her unblinkingly for a minute, before turning away and absently commenting to Dumbledore about setting good examples for the students. She doesn't challenge him again.<p>

67. Occasion  
>He almost forgets about Christmas until Dumbledore asks him if he's attending the Ball. He and Tom have always had a very quiet celebration, and the prospect of such a large event is somewhat daunting. And then, in that moment, he realizes he has a teacher's salary—and can finally get his boy a proper gift.<p>

68. Word  
>The phrase takes him completely by surprise. His boy. <em>His <em>boy. _His_ Tom. The idea makes him want to laugh and cry and scream all at once. But he doesn't. Because maybe the concept isn't so bad after all. The eleven-year-old Ravenclaw is not, and will never be, Lord Voldemort. It's the first time he truly accepts the thought.

69. Corpse  
>He would have gone to Diagon Alley to get a gift for Tom had that morning's paper not borne the headline "ATTACK ON ALLEY KILLS TWO AND DESTROYS THREE SHOPS—GRINDELWALD STRIKES AGAIN". So instead he follows the students on their next Hogsmeade trip and berates himself for never paying much attention to the history of the Grindelwald war.<p>

70. Drawing  
>The paper doesn't yield anything more than a few crude scribbles, and he knows he should have seen this coming. He's no better an artist than he was before, and portraits from memory are the least of his specialty. This Christmas—at Hogwarts, surrounded by things he should know but knows he doesn't—makes him think too much about everything and everyone he may never see again, and not even paper and ink can help him remember forever.<p>

71. Hair  
>He's staring in the mirror one evening when it comments on how smooth his skin is. He rubs his chin, thinking about how he's been beardless his entire life. When he walks out of the bathroom with new stubble courtesy of a mild Glamour that took more out of him than it should have, the mirror calls after him that he looks much more mature now.<p>

72. Scenery  
>The snow sparkles invitingly the first morning Hogwarts wakes up to find the white crystals blanketing the grounds. Infectious impromptu snowball fights break out, both inside and out. As John stuffs a handful of ice down Tom's shirt while being attacked by a daring sixth year near where the Whomping Willow will eventually be planted, he feels like he's actually the age he should be, instead of the age fate has made him.<p>

73. Midday  
>Tom comes running after lunch with a rumpled set of deep blue dress robes, one shoe, and a desperate look on his face. John can only laugh as he watches the boy try to cast a wrinkle-removal spell while tossing clothes aside in search of his second shoe. He can't help but think about his own first such Ball, and wonders absently if Tom has a date.<p>

74. Guitar  
>The music at the Ball is nothing like he was used to back home. What his peers would have considered contemporary doesn't exist right now. He wonders when the Weird Sisters formed, and whether or not he's somehow managed to accidentally stop it from happening.<p>

75. Gibberish  
>He's always thought of Seamus when he hears nonsensical rhyming spells, but not even he knew that they could be so destructive. The first year Gryffindor responsible keeps apologizing as she watches Dumbledore and the Charms professor piece together the three shattered tables and the nurse attends the five students—Tom included—who suffered various scratches from the explosion near the end of the Ball.<p>

76. Mistake  
>He decides to explain the Muggle meaning of Christmas to his students as a holiday treat. He should have realized sooner that bringing up the religious aspect would be more explosive than a first year's spell. It takes him well into lunch to stop the vicious debate and ensuing shouting match between three devout Hufflepuffs and a particularly sceptical Ravenclaw.<p>

77. Stake  
>It's this incident that makes him come to terms with the fact that he can't rely on his magic anymore. He knows that any other teacher would have magically silenced the students and given them detention. He also knows that his own wand is more useful as a blunt stabbing weapon than an instrument of wizardry. This leads him to a strange thought—one that he feels the Headmaster would be interested in.<p>

78. Grand  
>Dippet seems wary of the concept at first, but Dumbledore's eyes twinkle as John explains his idea. It takes only a little bit more persuasion to convince the Headmaster that it's a wonderful idea; he needs only to mention the helplessness of wandless witches and wizards. And so it's announced the next day that John Smith will be Hogwarts' first ever Physical Defence professor.<p>

79. Purchasing  
>The Muggle shops he visits are no different from before, but re-exposure to the Wizarding world seems to have changed him slightly. He finds that his knowledge of British Muggle currency is still horrid—he nearly overpays by double for the equipment he'll need for his new class. It's with a fond thought toward American dollars that he allows Dumbledore to secretly shrink his purchases.<p>

80. Gun  
>He only contemplates it for a second before dismissing it. Much as it would likely help them in the future, he knows that the potential for harm is far greater. And so, he only spares the barest of glances to the arms store before moving on.<p>

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><p><strong>This seems to get harder to write as time goes on; perhaps it's in trying not to reveal too much now that I've actually got some plot ideas. And I have to follow where the prompts take me!<strong>

**Read and review if you enjoyed, and make no assumptions.  
><strong>

**-Akita  
><strong>


	5. LXXXI to C

81. Facility  
>He feels a little swell of pride in himself as he surveys his second classroom. It looks suitably like his martial arts dojo in Japan years ago; it will serve its purpose well. Now to find out if he can actually teach the subject.<p>

82. Achievement  
>Though it isn't mandatory by any means, enough students show up to his first class that he has to split it into two separate time slots. As he passes out protective gear that Dumbledore thoughtfully conjured for him—along with an instant call button for the nurse—he thinks that maybe, just maybe, this will turn out all right.<p>

83. Core  
>He loses a quarter of his students when they find out that the first few weeks will be spent solely on basic stances and katas. He isn't really sorry to see them go, and instead focuses on the ones who actually want to learn.<p>

84. Pride  
>When Tom defeats a boy twice his size in early March, John can't help the swell of pride that wells up within him. As the rest of the students demonstrate their first serious, improvised fights after three months of class, the pride grows into something he's never felt before. Maybe teaching is really what he's meant to do.<p>

85. Instance  
>He only lets himself worry about the articles when the paper arrives each morning. The growing frequency of both Muggle and magical attacks does not bode well for the years to come, and he knows that at some point, war will break out. The only certainty he has is that Dumbledore will defeat Grindelwald in 1945—if he hasn't somehow managed to change that.<p>

86. Producer  
>When five seventh-year students take the Physical Defence in-class final two weeks before NEWTs and pass with flying colours, he wonders if they'll become integral in the war. He honestly hopes not, because he doesn't want to think of his class as a factory that churns out warriors instead of people.<p>

87. Invitation  
>When Dippet asks him to return to both his teaching positions the next year, he doesn't hesitate to say yes.<p>

88. Toggle  
>He shifts between morbid amusement and bittersweet nostalgia while he watches the fifth and seventh year students agonize over their OWLs and NEWTs, alternately locking themselves in their study spaces and breaking down in the hallways as they prepare for the tests that will shape their lives. He wonders if that's what he would have been like if he'd made it that far.<p>

89. Exam  
>He's never seen Tom quite as anxious as during the weeks of his final exams. John can't help but tease him mercilessly for his worry when the boy comes out at the top of three of his classes. His son merely shrugs, blushing in a way that Lord Voldemort never could have.<p>

90. Destination  
>It takes the two of them only a moment's consideration to decide that John's new salary has given them another freedom. Tom has never left Great Britain and America—so that is exactly what they will do.<p>

91. Stare  
>Tom's eyes have never been wider, and John feels a strange satisfaction in causing such awe in his son. He hopes that they can travel further in the future; two months is a very short period of time to travel as Muggles. They discover early on that magical travel is not an option for John anymore.<p>

92. Representative  
>He can't help but wonder if this moment—sitting in a small café just west of the border between Germany and France, sipping iced tea while the waitress dotes on Tom—is a snapshot indicator of what his life—their lives—will be like from now on. But he's learned from long experience that peace such as this rarely lasts long.<p>

93. Drunk  
>It's in a pub in southern France—while subconsciously trying to drown out the increasing news of war—that his inhibitions suddenly disappear. He was never one for drinking, but he loses track of how many glasses vanish down his throat before Tom comes looking for him and drags him, stumbling, back to their hostel.<p>

94. Credibility  
>He doesn't remember exactly what he says that night. All he knows is that the liquor—honesty in a bottle—makes him pour more of his heart out to his son than he ever has. He knows that the impending war is what's set him on edge, but he never realized how much those anxieties tie in with his own soul-searching through the years. And now Tom knows too.<p>

95. String  
>And then it's like their connection is stronger. He never realized how much his lack of aging—and the resulting connotations of dark magic—affected Tom. But now John can see that the truth has affected him even more, and the wariness is gone. A line connects them, an unbroken chain of trust that feels so much more powerful than ever before.<p>

96. Few  
>The last few days, after sailing across the English Channel back into Britain, feel more relaxed than John ever remembers the time before Hogwarts being. They get Tom's supplies with little fuss, and he can't help but compare Diagon Alley now to <em>before<em>—there's still some wariness in the air, but Grindelwald's threat is less in Britain than Voldemort's ever was.

97. Throat  
>He doesn't understand the lump that rises up in his throat as he watches Tom board the Hogwarts Express after whinging about how he wants to take the train with his friends. He'll be seeing him in a few hours, after all. But the thought of his boy out of his reach for only a moment still makes him want to Apparate to Tom's side in an instant. He's long stopped wondering why.<p>

98. Tutor  
>When he sees the gaggle of second-year students entering the Hall with Tom at the center, laughing and chattering with everyone as if he's been doing it his whole life, John feels a strange moment of unease. But he shoves it back, telling himself that Toms' charisma is not Voldemort's. He's taught his boy better than that.<p>

99. Monitoring  
>He scans the faces of new first years carefully as they crowd through the center of the Great Hall; listens as each name is called. He doesn't want to be caught off-guard by one he might recognize. Finally, "Wiggins, Clark" is sorted into Gryffindor, and John can't help but think he's safe for another year.<p>

100. Computer  
>Tom still keeps abreast of Muggle science, convinced he's going to go to university after he finishes Hogwarts. John has never discouraged him, but when the boy starts raving about these new 'computator whatsits' that are cropping up in America and demanding to know if they'll ever come to anything, he can't help but feel a little vindicated in telling Tom to wait and see instead of answering.<p>

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><p><strong>I apologize for the delay; lack of muse bit me. <strong>

**Review if you enjoyed!**

**-Akita**


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